086: Path to Purpose -Social Impact Gaming Entrepreneur - Jan Roessner

Guest OverviewJan Roessner is Co-Founder and CEO of One Earth Rising, a social impact gaming company with a mission to harvest and harness the power of philanthropy through interactive experiences, providing a playful path to social impact.Jan Roessner was born in Germany to a creative father and a loving but disciplinarian mother. After a fifteen-year career in the German military leading operations in a helicopter squadron and as a drone pilot in Afghanistan, Jan transitioned to the creative industry opening a marketing firm, sagency in Berlin in 2012. Serendipity led him to New York, where he met his current business partner and pivoted to social impact gaming and launching One Earth Rising. In Part One of this two-parter, Jan discusses his childhood, his education, his early influences, and desiring a life of impact. We cover what set him on a path to the military, discuss his experiences of serving in Afghanistan, before transitioning through education to political lobbying and finally taking the entrepreneurial way and opening his agency in Berlin. In Part Two we dive deep into Jan’s journey to social impact gaming, examples of his early successes with Animal Rights Organization PETA, the power of game-based storytelling to educate people on social issues, the philanthropic value of gaming to NGO’s, and the benefits open to brands and the market potential.  Jan discusses the business model, the evolution of the sector, and the impact AI will have on gaming. He also reflects on stoicism, managing fear, failure exercise, curiosity, and serendipity. I hope you are inspired by the integrity, playful passion and social impact focus of Jan Roessner.What We Discuss Jan discusses his memories of growing up as a single child to loving parents but always being surrounded by extended family.He recounts his experience and gratitude for the values and disciplines his mother instilled and the creative influence of his PR and journalist father.His freedom to explore.Being a follower in his pe